By AlaskaWatchman.com

Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has approved a ballot initiative that seeks to end the controversial ranked-choice voting system used in Alaska.

Dahlstrom issued a certificate of approval on Jan. 20, stating that the proposed bill was properly filed with a sufficient number of qualified sponsors.

The Division of Elections is now preparing 500 petition books which ballot measure supporters will use to gather at least 30,000 signatures.

Alaskans for Honest Elections is the organization behind the effort to end ranked-choice voting in Alaska. So far, they have 4,000 sponsors to help gather signatures. Their goal is to secure 75,000 names, or 45,000 more signatures than needed to ensure a large margin of error.

If the required signatures are successfully gathered, the ballot measure would go before Alaska voters in the fall of 2024.

“Rank choice was sold to Alaska by outsiders as a means to control dark money,” the Alaskans for Honest Elections stated in a Jan. 21 email to supporters. “Outsiders put more of their money than ever before in our elections. It did not work!”

The organization noted that 99% of the funding to initially sell ranked-choice voting to Alaskans came from outside the state, and the end result has created a voting system that is so complicated and divisive that it resulted in the lowest voter turnout since 2010.

“Rank Choice voting has proven to discourage voter turnout,” Alaskans for Honest Elections stated. “It is so complicated that 1000’s did not vote. Some voters, votes are counted 2 or 3 times. Not fair! It should be 1 person 1 vote.”

The group aims to build support across the political divide to return Alaska to a traditional election system that honors party primaries and individual voters.

“This is not a partisan issue,” the group said. “Rank Choice voting affected everyone.”

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to learn more about the effort to repeal ranked-choice voting.

— To help repeal ranked-choice voting, email Admin@AlaskansForHonestElections.com.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.

Ballot initiative to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting approved by Lt. Gov.

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


28 Comments

  • Friend of Humanity says:

    This is such good news! Thank you Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom!

  • David Shoemaker says:

    Very good. Get the petition in front of me, I’ll be signing it

  • Me says:

    This just gives the legislature an out to not repeal this right away. And we get another broken election in 2024 to boot. If Dahlstrom wanted to do something positive, she’d perform a forensic audit on the 2020 election that “passed” proposition 2 and she would hold a special election right now to repeal it.

  • Fallen Republic says:

    Wake up people, it’s not just Rank Choice, Dominion machines, and mail in voting need to go

    • John Alexa says:

      Show up with your ID
      And vote

      • James says:

        That didn’t work out so well for the people of Arizona.

      • Chuck Anziulewicz says:

        JAMES: In Arizona Katie Hobbs managed to pick up support from more than 33,000 Republican-leaning voters in Maricopa County, who backed GOP candidates in other state elections such as state treasurer. Too many Arizona voters were simply turned off by Kari Lake’s histrionics.

      • Chuck Anziulewicz says:

        I believe every person who registers to vote gets a voter registration card. Will that suffice?

      • Friend of Humanity says:

        Chuck, people in Alaska don’t even have to register to vote. They are automatically registered if they get an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which is not for Alaskans only. Alaskans don’t want this automatic registration, but just like with RCV, it magically got enough votes when voted on in 2016. So, to answer your question if a voter registration card will suffice? NO. Alaskans only should be voting in Alaska. Not foreigners.

      • Chuck Anziulewicz says:

        And WHY are non-Alaskans getting an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend?

      • Friend of Humanity says:

        Chuck, do you live in Alaska? Does not sound like it.

  • Lobo says:

    Since it will likely be on the 2024 ballot, I guess we will still have “Rigged Choice Voting” in the 2024 election cycle.

  • Let’s Work Together says:

    Ranked-choice voting is NOT “so complicated,” but you do have to do some homework about the candidates and issues—and be smarter than the ballot.
    I actually like having more candidate choices and more say in how my votes are counted, rather than letting the party organizations decide the candidates. So, I’m against the RCV repeal efforts.

    • Neil DeWitt says:

      Really? If someone isn’t good enough to win on their own merits they don’t need to be in office. One vote and done. It’s the only way. let’s go back to tge hanging Chad’s. at least you know who they hit the button for even if it was hanging. Dominon machines are to easily manipulated. RCV is corrupt, and mail in is just to easy to vote multiple times and regardless of what the voting people say they’re humand and get lazy and don’t check them all.

    • Friend of Humanity says:

      Oh yes, “Let’s Work Together” as long as it is going the lefties’ way. As soon as it is not going as they plan, then it is full-on attack mode against the People who want fair and honest elections. We’re done with the cheating and the lies and the minions that support those lies. Time to get rid of RCV, Dominion machines, multiple-day voting and mail-in ballots!

  • Elizabeth Henry says:

    There is also legislation in the works with HB01 and HB04. The senate thought will likely thwart those efforts. How ironic Rigged Choice Voting was promoted with the lie that it would ‘control dark money’ when it was promoted and pushed upon us by dark money. Classic leftist tactic.

  • Judy says:

    It will not only take the number of signatures but millions in dollars. That same dark money will come back to defeat this. There has to be a plan to raise that kind of money. I mean millions!

  • Steve says:

    And let’s not forget which dark woman, Lisa Murkowski, was a huge backer of this RCV.

    • DaveMaxwell says:

      And let’s not forget who took that murkowski money to enrich himself and his advertising company, non other than Mike pacarro!!!!

      • Steven Chappell says:

        I stopped listening to him right after he lied about RCV. He is not a conservative by a long shot even though he will claim that he is.

  • mike alexander says:

    HB 4 filed by Rep Rauscher and Rep Vance will repeal ranked choice voting. Only assigned to 2 committees, State Affairs and Judicial. Why not call the members of the these committees and ask them to pass this bill out of committee.

  • Richard Eide says:

    I’m one of the 4,000 registered petition circulators. If you see me in front of the store and wish to help get rid of RCV, I’d appreciate it if you had your driver’s license number ready so our opponents can’t claim you’ve double signed. I’ll see you around.

  • Diana says:

    The good news is that it is signed but the dates on it for the election in 2024 does not make rank choice voting a thing of the past until the 2024 election is over and everyone is chosen by ranked choice voting. So, the bill sounds good but useless for the 2024 elections for all persons running. We need a special election and that should be in the Spring of 2023 to allow time and people to get registered and let it sink in that the ranked choice voting is gone and we can vote 2024 with the one choice vote. The group that brainstormed this, knows it and wants to give their buddies a chance at getting on with the ranked choice voting one more time. The Republicans approved ranked choice voting back in 2002 under Frank Murkowski’s push so his plan to get Lousy Lisa daughter in the would be a coup on voting that we all did not know about. So here we are in the same muddle and mess that has been a stinky rag from 2002 to this day. What ever bill or this one that was signed needs to be reworked and new dates for a special election to rid the state of the mess. Any crooked thing the politicians think up, be very careful!! Think it through and push for what will rid this state of future messes the politicians dream up.

    • DaveMaxwell says:

      Forensic audit 2020 demanded
      Myer gone expose Dunleavy

      • Friend of Humanity says:

        An audit of 2020 would be wonderful! An audit of 2022 would be wonderful. While we are at it, an audit of votes on ballot measures from 2016 would be great also!

  • Sean says:

    Yes! Yes! Yes! Please get involved. This has to change.

  • Suzzie says:

    You people are symptomatic of the disease eating at America